Under Fire
by Helike
Summary: He has a chance to test his skills. Together with his Master he takes part in the mission to Geonosis. When there is a battle, will he survive?


So here you have it - a little bit of my thoughts on something that I call the biggest hypocrisy of the Jedi. No attachments, you say? Then what about bonds between Masters and their Padawans? It sure is _not_ an attachment. How could it be? :sarcasm:

Inspired by two events. The first one is the battle on the Petranaki arena. The other one is Order 66 execution. They both made me think about the impact of Padawans' death on their Masters and the impact of Masters' death on their Padawans. Different... erm... Jedi will deal with it in different ways. Am I right?

**Characters:** If you squint, you can see Bairdon Jace and Khaat Qiyn. Yes, they do appear in the movie, among all these nameless characters fighting in the Petranaki arena. Do me a favour and look up their names after you read the fic. Otherwise, you risk a spoiler.  
**Genre:** Tragedy. Might be somewhat angsty.  
**Warnings:** Not really. Except for the fact, that very little is known about both characters, so... erm... you know... I had to work a bit on their personalities.  
**Summary:** He has a chance to test his skills. Together with his Master he takes part in the mission to Geonosis. When there is a battle, will he survive?

**Disclaimer:** I wish I would own Star Wars. I don't.

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**UNDER FIRE**

Geonosis, 22 BBY.

_There is no emotion, there is peace._

He keeps repeating the words while watching the arena below. His glance slides over the place – too large, too loud and too crowded for his tastes. He can feel tension, but he can't say if it's the effect the spectators' expectations toward the execution that is just about to begin or what he feels is actually a part of his own feelings, something that a Jedi should rather not feel in a situation like this one.

He knows that the other Jedi are somewhere in the arena; present even if he can't see them. There is a short while when he thinks that he notices a single figure in a cloak – a dark, motionless shadow among overly enthusiastic Geonosians. He squints to see the person better, but, he can't see them again. It might have been one of the fellow Jedi, it might have been his imagination as well. He shrugs it off and moves his glance, continuing to watch the place.

A sudden roar of the crowd draws his attention to the arena floor. He looks down and his fists clench when he sees a small cart rolling onto the arena floor.

_Finally. Soon it will begin._

He shakes his head. There is that feeling he gets – that something big is about to happen and that something will have changed by the end of this day. With some effort, he pushes the thought away, finding it to be an unwanted distraction.

Slowly, the atmosphere of expectation gets to him. He shifts abruptly and his fingers clench on the hilt of his lightsaber, his impatience evident. He eyes his surrounding carefully, planning, assessing and looking out for the signal.

Suddenly a small hand gently touches his arm.

He flinches and, somewhat surprised, he stares at the Jedi by his side – a short, dark-haired and dark-eyed woman who has been his Master for last few years.

She says nothing; she doesn't even look at him. Her face is calm and her eyes are focused on the lodge for the high-ranking officials. Unlike him she seems completely relaxed – a living example of what a good Jedi Knight should be like in a crisis.

He hangs his head, feeling like his cheeks and ears slowly turn red. He has to admit it – she has a talent for expressing her disapproval without using any words.

_There is no passion, there is serenity._

He adds another line to his personal mantra. He suppresses his emotions, trying to get rid of nervousness and impatience. When he sees the beasts being released on the arena floor, he closes his mind and heart – the three people over there, on the arena floor, will have to deal with it all on their own for a while.

Like his master he focuses on watching the lodge, trying to ignore roars coming from the arena. And finally he sees it – a flash of purple in the lodge; the flash which moves upward as if in a salute – that's the signal!

In the response, a synchronized flash of light comes through the whole arena, when all the Jedi, until now hiding among Geonosians, ignite their lightsabers, he and his Master among them.

He's somewhat surprised when the whole arena sinks in silence, almost as deafening as the noise the crowd made before, but then battle droids appear on the arena floor and the noise is back.

_The battle has begun._

Upon noticing the droids, his Master rushes down to the arena floor and he follows her.

"Stay close to me," she reminds him.

"I know, Master," he replies while deflecting a laser bolt.

If not for the situation he would probably roll his eyes. This time, however, it doesn't seem to be a good idea at all, as losing the focus will result in losing his life.

He deflects another laser bolt and then he's forced to leap, trying to evade some Geonosian who appeared in front of him all of a sudden. The Geonosian, however, tries to attack him again. Unwilling to kill the creature, he pushes it away using the Force, making sure that the Geonosian will survive, but won't be able to take part in this battle again.

He turns back and notices an approving smile on his teacher's face. He almost can hear her say "I've taught you well." He salutes her jokingly and focuses on the fight again.

Through the Force, he can feel laser bolts coming his way and reacts before any of them will pose any danger to him. He firmly holds the lightsaber in his hands; its blue blade swirls around, deflecting one laser bolt after another and cutting droids around him. There is so many of them, however, that soon his moves become somewhat automatic.

Leap. Stab. Spin. Deflect. Cut. Cut. Push away. Leap-frog. Stab. Duck. Get to your feet. Cut again.

Quickly he realizes that battles are nothing like exercises and training. The number of the droids doesn't seem to decrease although so many of them have already been destroyed. With every second that passes, more and more of them appear, and the Jedi die one by another, shot down by them.

Finally the truth gets to him. There are too many droids; too many bolts come his way. There is no way he can defeat the droids. There is no way any of the Jedi will defeat them. Soon he doesn't even think about defeating the droids – all he can do is to try to survive in some way.

He can't even say how much time has passed since the battle started. He's breathing heavily; his forehead is covered in beads of sweat, which he quickly wipes away with one impatient gesture. His limbs are getting heavier and heavier, tiredness clearly taking its toll on him.

He starts making mistakes.

For a short while he loses his focus and pays for it dearly. He leaps, lands and stumble on some destroyed droid, dropping his lightsaber by accident. He curses, stumbles again and then something explodes in front of him, sending him into air.

He falls heavily on the ground, the impact of the hit stops his breathing for a few seconds. He shakes his head and looks around, stunned, too late realizing another danger coming. Panicking, he looks for his lightsaber, but it's nowhere to be found. He curses. It's too late to avoid the laser bolts. If he dies, he can only blame his stupidity and delayed reaction for that.

Suddenly a lone, human figure appears in front of him. A green blade deflects the bolts, sending them back to the droids and destroying them. The Jedi, his Master, swirls, leaps and pushes away another droid.

"Quick! Get up!" She cries and throws him his lightsaber.

He gets to his feet within seconds, the lightsaber in his hand. He pushes away all unnecessary thoughts and focus on the fight.

The Force is with him. He swirls and leaps again, deflecting the bolts. He raises his hand, palm outward, and droids are pushed away. He leaps and spins, his hand moves and another droid – cut in half – falls to the ground.

He turns to the droid aiming at his Master and pushes it away.

He's too late. Two seconds too late.

The bolt hits her and she stops in the middle of her movement. Her lightsaber slides out of her hand and she crumples into a heap on the arena floor.

Through the Force he can feel his Master's death.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

ooo!" A single cry escapes him when he rushes to her, filled with rage. All thoughts disappear from his mind, all he can think about is to run to her side and... to avenge her.

Some hand catches him and pushes away. A green blade deflects two bolts that would have killed him if not for the Jedi's intervention.

"Pull yourself together!" his saviour exclaims, shaking him by his shoulder. "Or you'll die... like her." His voice trembles with emotion as he says the last two words.

Pull oneself together? It's much easier said than done. Million images flash through his mind – memories of all these whiles he spent together with her. How can he just ignore his teacher's death?

She was his teacher. She was like his mother. She was his friend. She cared about him and he cared about her.

He's just about to free his arm and ignore everything that the Jedi said when another thought hits him.

She wouldn't like him to die here, on the arena, while staring at her dead body or fighting thoughtlessly in a poor attempt to avenge her. What he needs now is a clear mind; later there will be time to mourn her.

He tosses his head, grim determination on his face. One more time he glances at her dead body.

He's still alive. She's dead.

He'll survive.

He'll do it for her.

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THE END


End file.
